


Good Morning

by robotsdance



Category: Frasier (TV)
Genre: F/M, canon divergent from Daphne Hates Sherry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 17:03:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17227913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotsdance/pseuds/robotsdance
Summary: The first time Niles and Daphne had sex was during that heatwave but since then they'd been careful. Enjoyable as that night had been, they weren't letting any of that into their day-to-day lives. The Montana was where they had sex. That one time. And then a few more times after that. Until last night that is.





	Good Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Everyone gets to write a 'they slept together in _Daphne Hates Sherry_ ' AU right?

Daphne stirred in the morning light, resisting the pull of wakefulness as she savoured the warmth of the blanket over her and the softness of the sheets on her skin and the feel of the arm over her—

She snapped awake like a panic switch had been flicked in her brain. There was someone in bed with her this morning. And not just someone. Just someone she could deal with. No, the someone fast asleep beside her this Saturday morning was Dr. Niles Crane.

This wasn’t the first time they had slept together. The first time was during that heat wave about a month back when she sought solace at his place after a huge fight with Sherry and one thing led to another and they had a good time with no strings and no regrets. But their good time was so good and their regrets were so non-existent that it kept happening (note the masterful use of the passive voice). They kept, who was she kidding, she, Daphne Moon, kept going back. And Dr. Crane— Niles, as she now called him at his request when they were alone together well he… he certainly hadn’t been complaining about the ongoing arrangement.

And Niles (the use of his first name, even in her own thoughts, still felt as intimate as the recreational activities they had been partaking in as of late) was sweet and kind and so thoughtful and lovely but he was separated from his wife and vulnerable and on the edge of brutal, painful divorce and despite the conversation they had had that first night, when they had affirmed their utmost consent, and the one they had had over breakfast the next day when they had giggled and blushed their way through a debrief conversation about how much they had enjoyed themselves the night before, she still felt like she was taking advantage of him. She had vowed she wouldn’t darken his doorstep again.

But all the same she found herself back at his place in the coming days. She’d fooled herself into some mundane reason to stop by the Montana that second time. A reason so flimsy she had been trying to remember what exactly it was as she stepped into the elevator of his building, but as she got off the elevator and approached his door she abandoned the excuse entirely. She didn’t need a reason to be there and Niles didn’t ask for one. The Montana was out of bounds and therefore outside the rules of their normal lives. There he wasn’t her boss’s brother, there he was Niles, who wore flowing linen and silk robes and gasped her name in delight every time she showed up on his doorstep (and then gasped her name in other very flattering contexts when the evening took an inevitable turn in that direction).

And the sex was good. Scratch that. The sex was exceptional.

So they had been careful. They’d only ever acknowledged what they did when she spent the night at his place when they were alone together at the Montana. The Montana was where they had sex. That one time. And then a few more times after that. Until last night.

She shook him awake and the first thing he did was look at her and smile and that was exactly the sort of thing that got them into this mess in the first place. Last night after going out for dinner with Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane the four of them had come back to the condo to watch a movie. When the credits rolled and Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane had gone to bed she and Niles had found themselves alone in Dr. Crane’s apartment for the first time since this thing between them had begun.

And she’d felt them both register the shift of it where they sat beside each other on the couch and suddenly they were looking at each other the way they did when they were alone at the Montana, the tension of it as unbearable as it had been the first time, back during the heat wave.

It was Niles who had spoken first, his voice low in the darkened room, the lights from the city behind her reflecting in his eyes as he confessed, “I really want to kiss you right now.”

And she had said, “So kiss me.”

So here she was waking up after the rest of the household with her boss’s brother in her bed. She strained her ears trying to hear if there was any chance Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane had opted for a lie in that morning but her hopes were dashed when she heard the telltale sounds of breakfast and Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane grumbling at each other all the while Niles was grinning sleepily at her.

“Good morning,” Niles said, his gaze not flinching from hers as he brushed a strand of hair off her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“Never mind that!” she whispered, “Your father and brother are awake!”

“So?” he murmured, “I’m supposed to meet Frasier here before our squash game this morning.”

“And you’re still here from last night and they know you didn’t spend the night on the couch!” she said, the reality of her situation becoming more and more dire as it came crashing into focus. She threw the covers off her and pulled on her robe and tied the belt around her waist, “You get dressed and call your brother and tell him to meet you there. I’ll try and get rid of your father.”

Niles blinked up at her from his half-asleep state, “Daphne that’s—"

But she did not hear the rest of what he was going to say as she was already on her way out of her room to see what she had to work with this morning.

“I said I haven’t seen it!” Dr. Crane told his father as she walked into the living room, “It’s just a dog toy. Why do you care so much?”

“It’s Eddie’s favourite toy!” Mr. Crane replied as if that explained everything, “It was his birthday present. He chose it out himself. Out of all the toys in the pet store he picked the squeaky squirrel. I had it yesterday at the park with him before we went out for dinner and now I can’t find it. And it was the last one in the store so I can’t even go out and buy him a new one!”

“What a tragedy that would be,” Dr. Crane muttered into his paper as Daphne approached the table where both Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane were already seated. Dr. Crane was dressed in his squash gear and already well into his coffee and newspaper (which was a good sign) and Mr. Crane was munching on some cereal (the box beside him indicated that it was neither the most or the least nutritious cereal option in the house, which also bode relatively well for his mood, the missing squeaky squirrel not withstanding).

They wished her a good morning which she returned as she gathered the used dishes together while waiting for the phone to ring, which it did after a few moments.

She picked up the phone on the second ring (not wanting to look too eager), “Crane residence.”

“Daphne-” Niles said from the other end of the connection.

“It’s for you,” she announced to Dr. Crane and handed him the phone.

“Hello…. Yes of course. Alright. I’ll see you there.”

“Who was that?” Mr. Crane asked.

“Oh just Niles. He’s running a little late this morning and asked if we could meet at the club for our game,” Dr. Crane said as he hung up the phone, “I’ll finish my coffee and I’ll be off.”

Daphne thanked her lucky stars that Dr. Crane had bought Niles’ story so readily. She peered into his mug (almost empty) and the amount of coffee in the coffee pot on the table (enough for just over a mugs worth) and took the liberty of pouring herself a cup and whisking the now empty coffee pot back into the kitchen. That would take care of him. With a little luck he would be out of there in a few minutes.

Mr. Crane was a different story.

“Have you taken Eddie for a walk yet?” she asked, crossing her fingers in the pocket of her bathrobe in case the fates could be swayed in her favour so readily.

“I took him out this morning, but we haven’t gone for a walk yet.”

“Well best get at it!” Daphne said, chipper as can be, “You don’t want to get caught in the rain.”

The sun streaming in from the balcony windows did not help her argument, but the last few days it had gone from sunny to rainy in a heartbeat and she did have the general raininess of Seattle to bank on.

“In a bit,” Mr. Crane said as he turned a page of the sports section, “Maybe after some pancakes?”

Daphne did not have time to make him pancakes and still get Niles out of there fast enough to meet his brother in time for his game. Not by a long shot. “How about you take Eddie for a walk and I’ll have pancakes ready for you when you get back?”

He considered it, “Chocolate chip pancakes?”

“Whatever you like.”

“Alright,” he agreed and she breathed a sigh of relief, “You haven’t seen Eddie’s squeaky squirrel have you?”

She rolled her eyes skyward and said a prayer to the god of dog toys that the squeaky squirrel would be found soon. She gave the living room a quick once over before replying, “It’s probably in your room. We’ll look when you get back.”

“I looked, but I’ll look again,” Mr. Crane said as he put down his napkin and she snatched his mostly empty bowl and the box of cereal before he could change his mind. By the time she had put the dishes and the cereal box in the kitchen and stacked the newspaper into a single pile Mr. Crane was no longer at the table, Eddie was nowhere to be seen, and Dr. Crane was on his way to the coat rack.

“So you’ll be on your way then?” Daphne asked.

Dr. Crane nodded, “Don’t want to keep Niles waiting!”

“Of course not,” Daphne agreed, hoping Niles shared his brother’s urgency this morning.

Daphne lingered on her way out of the living room enough to see Mr. Crane was coming back down the hall from his room, Eddie’s leash in hand and she congratulated herself on how efficiently she’d been able to get them out of the house as she went back to her room, all the while she was swearing to whatever gods of ill-advised trysts would listen that if she got Niles out of there undetected she would never be so stupid ever again.

Daphne looked over her shoulder before opening the door to her room the smallest amount needed for her to squeeze in and she was greeted by the sight of Niles buttoning his shirt. His shirt was far more rumpled than anything she’d ever seen him wear (his shirt spent the night in a heap on the floor where it fell last night and it showed).

“Your brother is about to leave and your father is taking Eddie for a walk. As soon as it’s all clear we’ll get you out of here so you can meet Dr. Crane for your squash game.”

Niles watched her as if he meant to say something important as he pulled his suspenders over his shoulders, but he just said, “Just say the word Daphne.”

He was still looking at her with the dopey grin he only used when they were alone together and he was paying so little attention to what he was doing that the strap on his left shoulder was all twisted when he picked up his tie. Daphne stepped forward and straightened his suspenders out so that the proper side of the little birds on them were facing outward. “There,” she said, grazing her hand over his shoulder.

He had stopped tying his tie mid-motion and was just watching at her. She was standing very close to him, as necessitated by her fixing his haphazard suspender work, and he must still be half-asleep because he closed his eyes and swayed where he stood when she raised her hands and gently took the silk from his grasp and went about finishing the knot.

She smoothed his tie down and pat his chest twice, watching her own hands as she did so. He wasn’t wearing his shoes yet and neither was she and the height difference between them was so negligible that their faces were mere inches from each other. When she looked up again his eyes were open and he was looking at her and she was looking at him and her hand was still on his chest and then she heard a door in the other room close.

“They’re gone!” she told him, “Time to get you out of here!”

Niles didn’t look thrilled by this news, he was no doubt worried about how he was going to explain his lateness to his brother when he showed up at the squash court, but he would relax once they got him out of there. She knew she would. She grabbed his suit jacket and handed it to him and he said, “Thank you Daphne” very softly, obviously still worried that someone might overhear them.

Daphne poked her head out from her door and took a few steps towards the piano to get a good look at the living room before whispering to Niles (his overcautiousness in this matter was contagious it seemed), “All clear.”

Niles followed her out into the living room and veered towards the coat rack as Daphne glanced into the kitchen to double check. No sign of Mr. Crane or Eddie. Just the evidence of the cereal box and the dishes she’d hastily put on the counter to get them out of there. She was halfway through a sigh of relief when Niles said, “My coat isn’t here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I had my coat with me last night. I hung it up right here, where I always do, and now it’s not here.”

“Are you sure? Maybe you didn’t bring your coat in last night.”

“No I definitely had it. It was raining when we went for dinner,” Niles said as he lifted each jacket off the hooks in turn to doublecheck and then he stopped in horror. He was looking at her, his eyes wide, “My car keys are in the pocket.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“You’re sure?!”

He rechecked all of his suit pockets and then gave her the bad news, “I’m sure.”

“Alright keep looking. I’ll go check my room,” Daphne said as she hurried back to her room as Niles combed through the hanging coats again. She checked the floor around her bed and her closet and even ripped apart her bedsheets on the off chance that somehow his coat had found its way into her room with them last night. But she had no memory of removing that particular article of clothing from him last night and after a couple minutes she gave up and went back to the living room.

“It’s not in my room,” she announced to the living room as she approached the piano.

“Yeah I guess not. Thanks for checking though Daph,” Mr. Crane replied as Daphne stopped dead in her tracks, scanning the room for Niles, who she spotted crouched behind the bookshelf in the middle of the room opposite where his father currently was.

“No problem,” Daphne said with the breeziness of clean sheets fluttering in the soft air of a meadow in summer on a laundry line inexplicably stung in an otherwise empty field, all the while she and Niles shared eye contact over how big a problem they currently had.

“I can’t figure it out. I know I had squeaky squirrel with me last night when we went out to that restaurant because it squeaked in my pocket and Frasier made a big fuss about it,” Mr. Crane said as he walked past Daphne to the kitchen and she tried not to draw attention to the way Niles was sneaking around the bookshelf at the same rate so that his father wouldn’t spot him.

Daphne watched Mr. Crane make his way into the kitchen as he looked under the table for the missing dog toy. On the other edge of her field of vision Niles popped his head up over the bookshelf and peered around the pillar silently asking if he should move or not.

“Have you seen Dr. Crane’s coat?” Daphne asked after him as she held out her hand to Niles telling him to stay where he was.

“Frasier’s?” Mr. Crane called back from the kitchen.

“No his brother’s. Dr. Crane called just now, he was wondering if he left his coat here last night.”

“Oh yeah. Frasier found it this morning. He took it with him to give to Niles at their squash game.”

“Great,” Daphne said, her heart sinking as Niles looked stricken, “That’s one mystery solved.”

Mr. Crane came out of the kitchen again and Niles dove back out of sight.

“It’s not in the kitchen either. This is driving me crazy. Where on earth could squeaky squirrel have gone?” Mr. Crane asked the world at large more than Daphne.

“Maybe it fell out of your pocket on your way up here last night?” Daphne offered, hoping against hope that Mr. Crane would think so too and continue his search literally anywhere else in the world other than in the apartment right now. She was trying to hide something much bigger than a simple squeaky squirrel in the apartment at this moment and had serious doubts about Niles’ ability to stay hidden the longer Mr. Crane searched.

“Maybe!” he agreed, walking between his chair and the the bookshelf as Niles circled around the other side like the world’s worst ninja, “I’ll go check. Eddie!”

Eddie came running from down the hall from Mr. Crane’s bedroom and while Mr. Crane was facing away from the living room putting Eddie’s leash on Daphne beckoned Niles to run for the cover, which he did, hunched over and zooming across the room at top speed making his way to the kitchen as Daphne prayed he made it before his father turned back around.

The doorbell rang and was followed by the unmistakable sound of a cereal box hitting the floor from the kitchen. Daphne froze and thankfully Mr. Crane looked towards the door first. Eddie moved into investigate the sound in the kitchen but his leash prevented him.

“Must have put the cereal box too close to the edge of the counter,” Daphne explained in what she hoped was a casual and not at all suspicious tone, “I’ll go clean it up.”

“Alright. Keep your eyes out for squeaky squirrel. I’m going to go retrace my steps from yesterday. Maybe it fell out of my pocket when I was getting out of the car,” Mr. Crane said as he went towards the door, Eddie in tow.

Daphne held her breath as Mr. Crane opened the door.

“Morning Roz.”

“Hi Martin.”

“Did you see a small stuffed squirrel on your way up here?” Mr. Crane asked.

“No?”

“Alright well keep your eye out for it,” he said with purpose as he held the door open for Eddie to walk through.

“Hi Daphne. Is Frasier here?” Roz asked as she closed the door behind Mr. Crane and Eddie and began walking towards her.

“I’m afraid not.”

“That’s alright. I’m just here to drop this off.” Roz held up the bag she was holding.

“I’ll let him know,” Daphne said, holding out her hands to relieve Roz of whatever she was dropping off and send her on her merry way.

“Don’t worry about it,” Roz said as she brushed Daphne’s offer aside, “I’ll just put it in the fridge.”

“No really! I’ll take care of it,” Daphne insisted, moving to cut her off her progress across the apartment.

“Oooooo,” Roz said as her eyes narrowed, her demeanour shifting as she dialled in on every signal Daphne was trying to hide, “You have a guy here.”

“I—"

“I can always tell. And you have a guy here.”

“Alright yes,” Daphne confessed, bypassing the denial and jumping straight to the part Roz would respond to, “And I’d like to get him out of here discreetly if you know what I mean.”

Roz held up her hand. “Say no more. I’ll drop this off in the kitchen and then I’ll be out of your hair,”Daphne chased after her trying to think of an excuse, any excuse to keep Roz from going where she was going but nothing came to her so she hoped Niles had heard them coming and had ducked for cover as Roz continued, “and later you can tell me all about your mystery man— Oh hey Niles.”

Niles fumbled the dustpan he was holding and more cereal scattered to the floor. “Hi Roz,” he replied. His voice was high with panic that Daphne read as clear as day but that Roz wasn’t looking for so therefore didn’t see.

There was an animated but brief silent conversation between Niles and Daphne as Roz side-stepped him on the way to put something in the fridge and then put something on the counter, all the while Daphne implored Niles to play it cool. Niles was safely in Roz’s blindspot of being Dr. Crane’s brother and not even a contender for the man Daphne was trying to sneak out of there so all they had to do was survive the next 30 seconds without giving her reason to suspect.

“Alright I’m gone,” Roz said as she turned to Daphne, who turned her rather violent pantomime of ‘just act natural’ towards Niles into an offer to help him clear up the rest of the wayward cereal and a kind smile to Roz.

“Thanks,” Daphne said.

“I’ll see myself out. Tell Frasier I stopped by.”

“Will do!” Daphne called to her retreating back as she and Niles crouched onto the floor to sweep up the rest of the cereal.

“That was close,” Niles said in undertone as he gathered the debris into a pile in the middle of the floor.

“She didn’t suspect a thing,” Daphne assured him, and thank god for that. The last thing she needed this morning was to get interrogated by Roz about how she ended up sleeping with Niles, “We’ll just clean up the last of this and as soon as Roz is gone you can be on your way.”

“I still don’t have my car keys,” Niles pointed out and Daphne swore.

“You can take my car!” she offered in desperation.

“And explain that how?!” he pointed out. She groaned at the logic of it. Of course Niles couldn’t show up to his squash game driving her car when his brother knew perfectly well that Niles’ car had taken the four of them to and from dinner without incident the night before.

The sound of the front door was blessed relief until instead of the sound of it closing again they heard, “Oh hi Roz.”

Daphne said “Dr. Crane!” at the exact time Niles said, “Frasier!” and mirroring expressions of horror spread across their faces.

Daphne jumped to her feet and made a run for it, knowing she had only moments to divert the impending disaster that was Roz and Dr. Crane having a casual conversation and her worst fears were confirmed as soon as she was out of the kitchen and she heard what Dr. Crane was saying:

“—squash game in 20 minutes and I thought we were meeting there but I saw his car downstairs. He must have dropped by to pick up his coat which he left here last night.”

Daphne had all of two seconds to try and position herself somewhere in Roz’s line of sight but behind Dr. Crane as Roz began to reply, “Oh yeah I just saw him—"

Daphne waved her arms to get Roz’ attention and unleashed a frantic series of gestures and intense eye contact. Roz stumbled over her words for half a second before she successfully changed tracks, “I saw Niles at Nervosa. Just now.”

“Nervosa?” Dr. Crane replied sounding puzzled, “Why would he park here?”

“He was going to come here right after,” Roz lied with ease, “There was a bit of a line. He must have got held up.”

“Just as well,” Dr. Crane replied without suspicion as he tossed Niles’ coat over the arm of the couch. Daphne watched the coat land and she tried to mask the hope it caused. Niles’ car keys were in there. When Frasier looked away from her Roz broke into a knowing smirk as she mouthed, “Niles?!” in Daphne’s direction and Daphne tried to commutate both ‘thank you for covering’ and ‘we’ll talk about this later’ without words as Dr. Crane continued, “I forgot my mineral water. Can’t risk getting dehydrated on the court today can I?” he said as he strode towards the kitchen.

“NO!” Daphne and Roz exclaimed together. When Dr. Crane jumped and turned towards them looking startled Roz stepped up to the plate.

“I need to have a word with you,” Roz said, “In private. Please.”

Dr. Crane looked confused but he agreed, “Why don’t we step into the kitchen?”

“No!” Roz said, “It’s kind of embarrassing. Can we go to your room for a minute?”

“Sure Roz,” Dr. Crane said as he allowed himself to be whisked away down the hall towards his room by Roz, who shot a final ‘you owe me big time’ look over her shoulder at Daphne. Daphne was going to owe Roz about a hundred favours if she managed to pull this off.

Adrenaline and hope collided in Daphne in equal measures. With Roz occupying Dr. Crane and Mr. Crane out of the house and Niles’ coat containing his keys lying on the couch, all of the elements needed to get Niles out of there were finally within her grasp. She just needed to get Niles from the kitchen to the front door, get the keys out of his coat pocket (while leaving the coat where Dr. Crane left it), and get Niles’ story straight so it aligned with the one Roz had just told.

“Dr. Crane!” she whispered as loud as she dared as she started digging in his coat pocket for his keys.

Niles peered around the corner of the kitchen wall and she beckoned him to hurry with her free hand. The coast was clear but God knew for how long. He bounded across the living room as she searched another pocket, this time finding her target. Her fingers closed around the keys and before she had given even a fraction of thought towards who was running across the living room towards her she tossed the keys to him.

The moment the keys had left her grasp she knew she had made a terrible mistake and she watched them arc towards Niles as if in slow motion as his eyes widened and the dread of impending disaster overcame her. To his credit he tried to slow down and catch the airborne keys.

It did not go well.

He bobbled the keys as he flailed and lost his balance, flinging the keys back towards the couch as he crashed into the coffee table.

She was pretty sure his keys had landed and slid somewhere under the couch and she dropped to her hands and knees to look for them.

“Are you alright?” she asked him when she was close enough to do so without speaking in anything more than a hushed whisper. He was wincing, sprawled over the coffee table in shock more than anything else.

He smiled at her, their faces rather close together, indeed the last time their faces where this close together they hadn’t been looking for his keys. “Yes I’m fine.”

“Good. Now help me find your keys! I think they landed somewhere over here.”

He rolled off the table and joined her on the floor reaching around under the couch trying to fish his keys out from whatever hell they had descended to.

“This is just typical,” Daphne muttered as she crawled around to search the other side of the couch as Niles did the same on the other side, “I finally find a job I love and then I have to go and ruin it by sleeping with my boss’s brother. I’m going to get caught and they’re going to think I took advantage of you and I’m going to get fired and—“

“Daphne this is ridiculous!” he burst in frustration, no doubt as baffled as she was that his keys had disappeared into thin air. Her fingers brushed against something cold and her heart leapt. His keys. She’d found his keys! She had them in her hand! She jumped up and dragged Niles to his feet, pressing his keys against his chest as she did so, waiting until she felt his hands on hers before even thinking about letting go of the keys.

She was so preoccupied by her success at finding his keys, at the possibility that they might get him out of there undetected, that it took her a moment to realize he was still talking, the words spilling out of him in a rush, “They aren’t going to think anything like that! They know I’ve been in love with you for years!”

In the space where one might expect a stunned silence to follow, the following three things happened at once:

1\. The front door started to open.  
2\. Daphne heard footsteps from the hall and Dr. Crane saying, “Roz that still hardly qualifies as an emergency”  
3\. Daphne grabbed Niles and shoved him into the powder room, closing the door behind him and spinning around to lean against the door just as Mr. Crane stepped into the apartment and Dr. Crane and Roz returned.

“Well it’s important to me,” Roz told Dr. Crane as she rounded the corner into the living room and looked to Daphne for confirmation of success or failure.

“So is my squash game,” Dr. Crane said, “Now if you think you’ll make it through a few hours without hearing back from Basil I’m going to get my mineral water and be off. Niles will be wondering what kept me!”

Roz moved to stop Dr. Crane from progressing any further towards the kitchen but Daphne waved her off.

“I found squeaky squirrel!” Mr. Crane announced, “I was retracing my steps and I could see it in the front seat of Niles’ car. It must have fallen out of my pocket on the way home from dinner last night. Where is Niles? I want to get it out before I go to the park.”

Roz launched into the Cafe Nervosa lie as Daphne tuned further out the conversation and missed the way Mr. Crane was nodding at Roz with a different kind of understanding.

The thing Niles had said right before Daphne had shoved him into the powder room had begun to register. Specifically the last bit. The part where he said“I’ve been in love with you for years.” That was the part that was currently echoing around her brain over and over and over. He must have misspoken. That’s all. That was the only logical explanation. The alternative was.

was.

was.

well.

She needed to clear this up as soon as possible. Dr. Crane was back from the kitchen and Roz and Mr. Crane were still talking but all Daphne heard was Niles’ voice thundering in her ears. She excused herself and opened the powder room door a smidge, making sure Niles was well out of sight (he was pacing beyond the line of sight of the door) before she opened the door wide enough for her to slip inside. She locked the door behind her for good measure.

Niles stepped towards her once the door was closed, “Daphne—”

“It’s alright Dr. Crane,” she assured him right off the bat, but when he winced she corrected herself, “Niles. It’s alright Niles. I won’t hold you to what you said.”

“No Daphne I—”

“You were stressed and flustered and I was in a panic to get you out of here and—”

“No that isn’t—”

“So don’t worry about it. We all misspeak from time to time—”

“Daphne please let me explain—”

“You don’t have to. It’s alright. I understand completely—”

“No Daphne you don’t,” Niles said, rather sharply, and she stopped talking to look at him looking at her. The expression on his face made her heart stop, “Daphne, I love you.”

And here came the stunned silence they were denied earlier. Time seemed to hang around them as she watched him watch her and her brain activity flatlined to a single thought that still took many long moments to translate into an actual word, “What?”

He was getting emotional, his expression one of fear and hope and sadness and truth, great and terrible truth. His voice was tight but he kept talking, “I meant every word I said. This isn’t how I meant to tell you but it’s true. I love you. I adore you. I have for years.”

She had no idea what to do with this information. The last four years of her life were flashing before her eyes and there was Niles being in love with her on the edges of every memory she summoned. How has she been so blind? She felt like a fool. And he said Mr. Crane and Dr. Crane had known all along? That’s just what she needed.

“You really do feel that way, don’t you?” she asked quietly, not quite able to meet his eyes, still half-hoping it wasn’t true. This conversation would be much easier to navigate if he wasn’t—

“Yes,” he said emphatically, “Oh Daphne yes.”

So much for that.

Niles was in love with her. He’d been in love with her last night when he said he really wanted to kiss her and he was in love with her when she took him to her bed and he’d been in love with her when she showed up at his apartment during the heat wave and he’d been in love with her when he stopped by at his brother’s in the middle of the afternoon countless times over the years and he’d been in love with her when they went to that ball together and he’d been in love with her before that and he was in love with her now.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said after a long stretch of silence. Understatement of the year.Understatement of the decade.

“That’s fitting. I haven’t known what to say for four years now.”

“Why didn’t you say something before?” there was an edge of anger in the question that she couldn’t hide or deny. How could he keep something like this a secret and then spring it on her out of nowhere and expect her to do anything but gawk at him?

A humourless laugh escaped him, “Because I was married and then separated and you were seeing someone and then you broke up and you said you’d never date a separated man and that you were going to do some separating yourself and then we slept together and then we kept sleeping together and I didn’t want you to think I was saying it because of that and I didn’t want to scare you because I have no idea how you feel about me and I knew I only had once chance to tell you for the first time and I’m a coward.”

“Dr. Cr—“ she caught herself sooner this time, “Niles…” Her sentence trailed off and she realized she had no idea where the sentence was going when she started it. What could she possibly say right now? She had never been caught more off guard in her life. She was standing in the powder room with her boss’s brother and she was wearing her bathrobe and he was confessing his love for her and she was supposed to know what to do with that?

“You don’t have to say anything right now. Or ever. And I will never mention it again unless you wish to discuss it,” he took a breath, “This isn’t how I meant to tell you, but I’m glad you know.”

Daphne nodded, grateful he didn’t expect her to have anything to say to him just now, “I’m glad I know too.”

They stood in silence in the powder room. On the other side of the door the rest of the family could still be heard. A reminder of the world they were going to have to step back into any minute now.

“May I ask you one thing?” Niles asked.

“Of course.”

“Would you like to go out to dinner sometime? Just the two of us?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?” she asked. The simplicity of such a request felt staggering in the light of the other revelation.

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation, “You and me. On a date.”

She felt herself start to smile. This she knew how to respond to, “I’d like that.”

*

In the living room Frasier took a sip of his mineral water and then resumed pacing, “Where on earth is Niles? We’re going to lose our court. I’m going to call him.”

“You should go down to Nervosa to find him,” Roz suggested from where she stood in front of the fireplace, the middle point between Martin and Frasier and a few feet from the still-closed powder room door.

“That sounds fun!” Martin chimed in as he and Roz shared a look of understanding, then he raised his voice towards the direction of the powder room and continued,“Let’s all go to Nervosa!”

“What?” Frasier exclaimed, “No! This is ridiculous. He told me to meet him at the health club and then parked here and went to the cafe. Well I’m not going to chase him around all morning. I’m going to call him!”

Frasier dialled and a moment later the three of them turned towards the sound of a phone ringing in the powder room.

Only Frasier looked surprised.


End file.
